Reneuron Regulatory News (RENE)

AIM: RENE 4 January 2019

ReNeuron Group plc

("ReNeuron" or the "Company")

ReNeuron signs exosome collaboration

ReNeuron Group plc (AIM: RENE), a UK-based global leader in the development of cell-based therapeutics, today announces that it has signed a collaboration agreement with a US-based biopharmaceutical company to explore the use of the Company's exosome technology platform as a potential delivery vehicle for synthetic oligonucleotides used in gene therapy.

In the collaboration, ReNeuron will use its proprietary exosomes as well as sequence-based know-how and the US-based biopharmaceutical company will provide its expertise in the field of synthetic oligonucleotides to optimise their loading into exosomes.

If the initial feasibility stage of the collaboration is successful, candidates with suitable pharmaceutical properties will be taken into the next part of the collaboration which will evaluate pre-clinical safety and potential efficacy.

During the initial feasibility stage there are no cash payments between the parties. On successful completion of the feasibility stage, it is anticipated that a product cross-licensing agreement will be signed by the parties ahead of the pre-clinical and clinical development of the therapeutic candidates.

Commenting on the agreement, Olav Hellebø, Chief Executive Officer of ReNeuron, said:

"Exosomes are biological nanoparticles ideally suited to the delivery of nucleic acid-based therapeutics due to their natural occurrence and abundance, their ability to protect their cargo from degradation and their potential for favourable bio-distribution. We are delighted to be collaborating with a biopharmaceutical company that has considerable experience in the development of novel oligonucleotide-based therapeutics." 

ENDS

About ReNeuron's Exosome Platform

ReNeuron has established an endogenous, high-yielding, CTX cell-line derived exosome platform that can be produced through a fully qualified, xeno-free, optimised scalable GMP process. Conditional immortalisation of the cell-line ensures consistent exosome product. The company has been able to successfully load miRNA and proteins into its exosomes.

The CTX producer cell-line can also be modified to carry siRNA/mRNA/miRNA, CRISPR/Cas9, proteins and small-molecule inhibitors and can be engineered to target particular tissues.

About ReNeuron

ReNeuron is a leading, clinical-stage cell therapy development company. Based in the UK, its primary objective is the development of novel cell-based therapies targeting areas of significant unmet or poorly met medical need.

ReNeuron has used its unique stem cell technologies to develop cell-based therapies for significant disease conditions where the cells can be readily administered "off-the-shelf" to any eligible patient without the need for additional immunosuppressive drug treatments. The Company has therapeutic candidates in clinical development for disability as a result of stroke and for the blindness-causing disease, retinitis pigmentosa.

ReNeuron is also advancing its proprietary exosome technology platform as a potential delivery system for drugs that would otherwise be unable to reach their site of action.

ReNeuron's shares are traded on the London AIM market under the symbol RENE.L. Further information on ReNeuron and its products can be found at www.reneuron.com. 

This announcement contains forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performance of ReNeuron and certain of the plans and objectives of management of ReNeuron with respect thereto. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as "should", "expects", "estimates", "believes" or similar expressions. This announcement also contains forward-looking statements attributed to certain third parties relating to their estimates regarding the growth of markets and demand for products. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect ReNeuron's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate. A number of factors could cause ReNeuron's actual financial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performance to differ materially from the estimates made or implied in such forward-looking statements and, accordingly, reliance should not be placed on such statements.